Earlier this month a diary by SolarMom really got to me – not the fear of her state sliding under water (I’ve already seen the map, the one that shows what happens to NYC, London, New Orleans, and Florida). What really impressed me was the large number of thoughtful comments – it seemingly touched a cord for a lot of KOSaphiles. It surely did touch me.
For years now I’ve seen the silly Clean Coal ads on my screen and the talk about sequestering CO2, as though we can put a pipe on a stack and pump the gas back into earth’s nether regions. And then what? It’s much like saying we can just store all the nuclear waste in Yucca Mtn. and then hope that humanity can read the operating manual for the next 10,000 years – good luck with that!
I believe there is no simple solution other than a cultural shift, a shift that mandates that we put back what we take out. And there is something we could start to do – right now. Start making and using bio char.
If you are like most of the people I mention bio char to your eyes have now glazed over and the automatic response ‘What’s bio char?’ comes out. So I reply by sending them to a link like: Amazonian Terra Preta Can Transform Poor Soil Into Fertile Land. Search the google – there is a ton of information out there. Here’s a UTube videoof a simple backyard approach.
Universities have been seriously studying bio char for about 10 years now. They’ve known about it for over a hundred years. What is it good for you ask? Well, it provides soil microbes a place to grow and do their dooty in concert with plant roots, it provides a electron interchange (cation) with nitrogen and phosphates (keeps them from leaching off); helps soil retain moisture and it sequesters carbon for hundreds if not thousands of years.
This last summer I thought that it had been studied enough – it was time to take it public. Many people around the globe have already been making it and applying it in their agricultural practice. I was sure that it was ready to come to market, so sure that I pulled up stakes in the Midwest and came to the NorthWest cause this is where the largest amount of renewable biomass lies ( about 34 million dry tons a year – all waste or residue).
What I found was something entirely different, for you see the energy sector seems to have first dibs on all this biomass, or at least that is what everyone is focused on. Building big million dollar complexes that spit out something that can be fed into an electric utility’s furnace in place of coal. It wouldn’t replace coal, just reduce the rate that we use coal, which is good, slowly wean us from the fossil part but…… it doesn’t put anything back for the long term, doesn’t get us to the carbon negative place we need to be.
Don’t get me wrong, there a many who are advocating the same soil amendment position. International Biochar Initiativeis a great organization that is leading the push for production and application of bio char. But I fear that the old economic model will dictate that most of the biomass that is available will be made into bio oil or energy – opportunity missed in my book. There will be 7 billion of us by the end of this century. I won’t be around to see that - in my book it shouldn’t happen – but, at least we need to figure out to keep them and Mother Earth healthy. I’d like to see each community turning its waste into compost and bio char. Rejuvinating the soil and growing healthy food.
I’m hoping to see in the comments some ideas where I might look – who I might talk with – any out there using bio char? I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get busy!
Spread the word!